The computer implemented method and system disclosed herein, in general, relates to a playback system. More particularly, the computer implemented method and system disclosed herein relates to controlling playback of multimedia content in real time.
Interactive music is used in some video games. The interactive music reacts to changes in the state of the game-play in real time and changes accordingly. Interactive music is also sometimes used in live performances and various other situations, with the common thread being that a software application accepts an input from an external source, for example, a video game, a live performer, etc. and uses the accepted input to influence assembly of some musical elements which are outputted as a stream of music customized to a situation. The above approach to music is also sometimes used in videos, for example, in generation or alteration of video imagery based on input in real time from some external source, for example, by a video jockey (VJ) in a nightclub setting. Moreover, some commercial products allow video editors to craft a music track to their videos. However, the variables of the video however, are not changed in real time. Furthermore, the variables that can be changed are fixed, that is, they remain the same for each piece of interactive music. Commercially available applications are either not aimed at casual users or give a user only indirect control over the interactive music. For example, in a video game with an interactive music score, the interactive music score reacts to events in the video game influenced by the user, but is not directly controlled by the user. As used herein, the “user” is a person who plays the video game, listens to interactive music, etc. created by an artist. The commercially available applications not only restrict the user's control over a piece of interactive music, but also restrict the control that can be given by the artist to the artist's audience.
Conventional playback systems do not cater to the needs of an artist creating interactive music as the conventional playback systems are not designed to allow the artist to make choices regarding the amount of control to be given to the user and the aspects of the music to be influenced by the user. As used herein, the “artist” is a person who creates multimedia content, for example, interactive music. The “user” is the person who plays or listens to the multimedia content, for example, interactive music created by the artist. Moreover, the conventional playback systems do not allow an artist to create each piece of interactive music with a different set of controls, which would make the choice of the controls a part of each artistic creation. Conventional playback systems that provide controls to the user tend to be based around editing of music and piecing the music together carefully usually against a timeline and not in real time. Conventional playback systems are provided for users knowledgeable in various multimedia fields, for example, music, audio editing, video editing, etc. Conventional playback systems are not intended for lay persons who do not have any kind of specialized knowledge in the multimedia fields. The conventional playback systems are generally not designed to allow lay persons to interact with the multimedia content in real time.
Hence, there is a long felt but unresolved need for an interactive multimedia content playback system that provides an artist the ability to expose different sets of controls to a user for each of the artist's multimedia creations, and that provides the user with direct control over multiple variables influencing playback of multimedia content.